Bennett’s ‘Gaia Wars’ finds Identity Films

The young adult action series is set in the Cascade Mountains

Identity Films has optioned feature rights to Kenneth Bennett’s self-published “The Gaia Wars,” a young adult action series set in the Cascade Mountains.

Story starts with a 13-year-old who vandalizes a developer’s property, flees into the wild and stumbles upon an ancient human skeleton revealed by torrential rain — which makes him question his own identity and his connection to an ancient terror.

The book led Amazon’s list in April for sales in the children’s action and adventure category. Bennett’s second title in the series is “Battle for Cascadia.”

Identity’s Anthony Mastromauro will produce. “While many are looking for the next self published ’50 Shades of Grey,’ I have been focused on finding more commercial family oriented fare that have breakout potential,” he noted.

Identity is developing a feature version of Louis Bayard’s “Mr. Timothy,” a historical thriller that reimagines the Tiny Tim character from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Earlier this year Mastromauro and Danielle Pelland of Entendre Films picked up the rights to Bill Mason’s memoir “Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief,” originally set up at Paramount.